Ducking the Wind

I set out from under the tall highway bridge.  The tide is falling with a couple hours to go.  The weather service called for 5-10 mph wind out of the west.  It is windier than that, but they got the direction right. Otherwise, it is sunny and just under 40F.  

I cross the river to take advantage of the shelter from the wind on that side.  Then, I follow the long lee side of Carting Island, make a surprisingly windy crossing of the channel to get on the lee side of Long Island (not that Long Island), and from there over to the west shore, which is steep, rocky and forested and completely buffered from the wind. The leaves are all off the trees at this point and with little recent rain, the forest floor is cinnamon colored. In the bright sun, it is quite beautiful.

I find a couple Great Blue Herons as I head up, and one fairly relaxed immature Red Tail Hawk. It doesn't have the red tail, yet.  But everything else checks out in the book of birds. Immatures are always tricky.

The wind seems calmer up above the islands, but it could be a clever ruse.  I cross to the other side when I get to the wind tunnel bridge, and the wind is quite a bit less than down below.  I take the back channel behind Fowler Island.  The tide is low and much of the passage is in a half a foot of water, or less. Near the bottom of the island a mature Bald Eagle circles before taking a perch in a riverside tree, where it waits for me to leave.

Following the east shore, the wind comes up again when I reach the quad islands.  It is gusting into the 20's.